Assam Chief Minister and BJP's pointsperson in the northeast, Himanta Biswa Sarma, today snubbed the Congress - his former party - and hit back at its senior leader Jairam Ramesh who called him a result of "only two real sins" committed by the grand old party in the northeast.
"When I was in Congress, Jairam Ramesh was never kind to me. I was also never kind to him," he said in an exclusive conversation with NDTV's Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Pugalia as part of a special series to mark the 76th Independence Day.
"I always told Congress - you didn't give me anything. I gave the party a lot," he asserted.
On Tuesday, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said there are "only two real sins" committed by the Congress in the northeast: "One committed by Hiteswar Saikia, to give respectability to a young man who formed part of the Surrendered ULFA. The other was by Tarun Gogoi, who gave this rank opportunist positions of power and authority."
The 54-year-old, once considered the blue-eyed boy of former Assam Chief Ministers Hiteswar Saikia and Tarun Gogoi, quit the Congress in 2015 after he fell out with Mr Gogoi.
"It's not like the Congress gave me a chance in politics. I proved it to even Gogoi sir that I was in Assam because I belong here and not due to him. Hiteswar Saikia didn't bring me into Congress. I got the entire Assam student community to join the party at his request. Because of that, I became a target for ULFA," said Mr Sarma in response to Mr Ramesh's charge.
Mr Sarma, an ardent critic of the Gandhis, added: "I don't believe Gandhis gave us anything. It's our sweat and blood that made the Gandhis. People say Rahul (Gandhi) or Rajiv (Gandhi) propped someone up. But it is the street soldier who gives his blood."
He also called Jairam Ramesh the courtier of Gandhis, who "ruled in Delhi": "The Gandhis ruled in Delhi and people like Jairam Ramesh are courtiers and courtiers don't know the reality of politics."
Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had deftly managed the 2006 and 2011 election campaigns for the party in Assam, joined the BJP in August 2015 following differences with the then Congress leadership.
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